January 16, 2008
India Is Florida
How? Well, through some random web surfing, I came across this map which renames US states based on the countries whose total GDP’s they most resemble. It’s a fascinating visualization of how wealth is distributed in this country & around the world -
India isn’t pictured but, with a GDP just shy of $800B, it would come in at roughly the same computed GDP as Florida (Florida’s the #3 US State ahead of NY? that doesn’t seem 100% right but oh well). As the map maker notes, this is strictly a $$$ calculation -adjusting this on a per capita basis would likely create a pretty sparse map and turn up some interesting comparison points -
Pakistan, for example, has a GDP that’s slightly higher than Israel’s - but Pakistan has a population of about 170 million, while Israel is only 7 million people strong. The US states those economies are compared with (Arkansas and Oregon, respectively) are much closer to each other in population: 2,7 million and 3,4 million.
vinod on January 16, 2008 06:42 PM in · · Direct link · Email post
The following "link this map which renames US states" goes to a LinkedIn profile of Bill B...
The problem is that you're looking at nominal GDP rather than GDP adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (essentially a cost of living adjustment). That's like saying that a $100,000 salary goes as far in Little Rock and New York City - it simply isn't true.
Here are the CIA figures on the gap between the nominal and the adjusted GDPs:
4 Trillion dollars is twice that of California, the richest state on the map.
Now we're still talking gross GDP rather than per capita, which would bring India way back down the scale again, but I think the fair place to start is with PPP adjusted GDP.
Also, those numbers are 2006 estimates it seems. 2007 is more - remember the hype about becoming a trillion dollar economy.
True, but note that if you look at the market for phsyician incomes, for example, they make more in rural areas than in, say, NYC or California. So, the market seems to demand a higher pay even though cost of living is low. The higher prices in some areas come with certain amenities (weather, proximity of "interesting" people, more food choices, etc.), so discounting by PPP may overstate things from certain plausible perspectives.
qwerty - thanks for catching my bug ;-) the downside of too many windows open at once
The dude it seems joined GS after 2 years of working at CIA and was VP within three years at GS. WTH!
How the cram all of South Carolina's GDP into Singapore, still beats me!
Right, but the extent to which they are paid more for living in rural areas gets masked unless you adjust for cost of living. Imagine a doctor gets $200,000 in NYC and $250,000 in rural Arkansas. Looking at nominal salaries ignores the fact that $250,000 in rural Arkansas is the same as $500,000 in NYC, so he's actually making 250% of what he would make in NYC not 112%.
I don't agree in this case.
aww, how perfect is it that Minnesota is Norway?? :)
And, actually, adjusting GDP solely for population would yield the same results, because both Norway and Minnesota have populations of about 5 million. Although, if you adjusted the amount for cost of living/purchasing power, Minnesota would fare better than her big sister.
and how imperfect that texas is canada...wish they'd made a per capita version
I was just thinking of how much it would make my French and Canuck friends squirm to see their proud nations portrayed as California and Texas.
I read in TIME that the British GDP per capita is now higher than America's.
That is all.
Why? Texas, I can understand because of the stereotypes, but what's wrong with CA? Seems to me that France should be happy to be compared to CA. At least in my view, it's a step up.
The irony to be found in the mappings of:
Indonesia - Louisiana
Pakistan - Arkansas
Iran - Alabama
make the awful error of omitting PPP worthwhile.
"India Is Florida"
So I am living in the right state. Great!
This map was fun to look at despite the obvious limitations of not showing the per capita GDP and not modifying it with Purchasing Power Parity.
Gross GDP numbers still have major ramifications, though, such as their impact on currency valuation and trade balance, their measure of national wealth, which in turn enables military power and other government policies and geopolitical ranking of nations. China's rapidly growing GDP, for example, may not make it a nation of suburbia and a vast middle class, which are measured through other metrics such as the gini coefficient, per capita GDP and PPP, but its vast GDP will certainly shape the future of mankind. So will India's.
still no canadian comment? :)
they are being mistaken for texas. winter is always bad there i guess :).
i agree with kurma re: france though. ca is not a bad comparison, and some---as kurma pointed out, and i am in that boat as well---would think ca is a step up.
Ahh--very nice point--I missed that!
India has clearly become one of the world's largest economies but its per capita income (even after adjusting for PPP) lags well behind. Fifty years ago the per capita income of South Korea may have been comparable to India's. But today I believe that the Korean per capita is $20,000 and it is aiming for $40,000. Of course South Korea is much smaller and less diverse in its population. Still, India has a long way to go.
Somebody I know has just moved from Washington D.C. to New Hampshire after years in the capital because money goes much further in the Granite State.
11 · vinod said
Majority of the Canadian citizens will squirm to be associated with Texas but not the Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He's a Dubya wannabe.
5# New Jersey – Russia (GDP #15 at $733 billion)
That's quite impressive for a small state like New Jersey.
I'm with Ennis on the adjustment. At least an adjustment in real per capita terms would be instructive :)
Vinod, this is probably because New York State does not see the same "big city boom" that the City does -- the areas outside of metro NYC (e.g. factory towns, farms) have been in a recession for the last 15+ years. Their economic drag has to be measured against the bursts in the NYC economy. Also, a portion of metro NYC's economic activity is redistributed across state lines (i.e., Jersey, CT). Jersey is not that small when you take a look at its population :) It also has one of the highest rates of income disparity in the U.S. I think that would be an interesting map, as well. Which states measure up against which countries in relation to income inequality?Vinod,
Your intuition is correct!
I was suspicious too, so I looked it up--while Florida and NY have similar populations, per-capita income in NY is about 33% higher than FL, giving NY clearly over 1 trillion in GDP and FL clearly less. No clean link to provide, but you can piece it together from Wikipedia.
Rob,
Here is a wikipedia link to a list of US states by nominal GDP.
brown, thanks--wikipedia really does have everything! I missed that concise page.
Last month the World Bank released new figures based on revised PPP estimates, that pretty much halved the GDPs of CHina and India -- putting them at about 5.3 trillion and 2.5 trillion respectively. Things are cheap there, but apparently not that cheap. But there is some debate about it.